18 articles in this issue
Roger Gladwin
Editorial by Roger Gladwin
Tracey Madden
Historically, the term portfolio has been used to describe a folder of work used predominantly for skill recording and display purposes. It was mainly paper based, usually begun when its author was a student and developed over a working lifetime. More rec... see more
Paul Chin
Peer assessment is the process whereby students provide formative or summative feedback to fellow students about their work. There have been many decades of research into the potential benefits of peer assessment and numerous studies have shown that peer ... see more
Brian Bowe
Since 1999 the School of Physics in the Dublin Institute of Technology has been critically analysing its pedagogical strategies, leading to a reconsideration of teaching, learning and assessment practices. In 2001, the Physics Education Research Group was... see more
Sophy Kant,Julian Walsh,Christopher R Hall,Alison Rodger,Gareth Mitchell
It is becoming increasingly recognised that students in Higher Education must acquire the skills necessary for professional and personal development, as well as for academic progress. The media have recently focused on the issue of declining public intere... see more
Simon Bates,David McKain,Bruce Sinclair
This communication describes the output of a Development Project awarded in 2005 to fund a collaborative project between the Universities of Edinburgh and St. Andrews. The project aimed to take an in-house collection of over 400 multiple choice / multiple... see more
Graham Currell
This paper discusses the use of informal screen-capture video clips as learning resources in mathematics and statistics for first year undergraduate science students who possess a minimum grade C in GCSE mathematics. The videos are quick and easy to produ... see more
Tim G Harrison
The School of Chemistry, University of Bristol is taking postgraduate Chemists and circuses of practical chemistry experiments into primary schools to enthuse, excite and educate tomorrows chemical scientists. With over twenty workshop visits undertaken i... see more
James Davis
The adoption of undergraduates into research teams upon entering university representsa marked change from the prescriptive lecture-lab format that underpins current teachingformats within the physical sciences. One such approach has been piloted at Notti... see more
Lynn Moran
The Undergraduate Physics Olympics (UPO) was run for the first time in the second semester of the 2005/06 academic year. The aim of the event was to enhance the first year experience by organising teams of freshers to compete for prizes on a set of practi... see more
Derek Raine
Science education seems to be diverging between an inclusive approach to general science and a contracting somewhat watered down discipline based approach. An inclusive but challenging curriculum should be based on real-world problems that are largely int... see more
Michael Bridge,Serena Corr,Sylvia Draper,Noelle Scully
Safe working in Chemistry involves critical analysis, interactive thinking and the evolving application of risk assessment to procedure, reagent and environment. It also requires cooperation and teamwork. These are transferable skills that all scientists ... see more
Simon Bedford,Jon Mason
Retrosynthesis has been likened to the game of chess. There are relatively simple rules to learn, but only through experience and practice can a learner acquire the tacit knowledge required for mastery of the subject. This makes it a challenging topic to ... see more
Melanie M Cooper,Ronald H Stevens,Charles T Cox Jr,Minory Nammouz
Although problem solving is a major goal for most science educators, many still rely on the demonstration method as an approach to teach it. This remains the case even though most are not happy with the results. Using a web-based problem delivery system t... see more
David R Mills
Projects are being increasingly used to provide a richer experience in physics teaching laboratories, and in the higher years, these may well approximate to the real world of industry and research. In first year, however, a wide range of approaches are ut... see more
Tina Overton
Context based learning is any learning that places content within a meaningful context. CBL has been demonstrated to enthuse and engage learners and is increasingly being used in sciences, especially at pre-University level. Problem-based learning can be ... see more
Gerry Walton,Dudley E Shallcross
The scheme of work in mathematics and science subjects at GCSE and A-Level has been constantly changing over the last fifteen years. Under the auspices of a pilot scheme funded by Chemistry for our Future (CFOF) we review the current scheme of work in mat... see more
Tim G Harrison,Dudley E Shallcross
It is perceived that Outreach activities are primarily conducted to raise the profile of the department and the subject with a view to recruitment. However, we highlight a range of benefits to teaching practice and assessment of practical teaching at tert... see more